Steven Pinker | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/steven-pinker
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018Mon, 19 Mar 2018 13:35:13 GMT2018-03-19T13:35:13Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
You can deny environmental calamity – until you check the facts | George Monbiothttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/07/environmental-calamity-facts-steven-pinker
<p>Rosy worldviews that rely on avoiding inconvenient truths should always set alarm bells ringing</p><p>One of the curiosities of our age is the way in which celebrity culture comes to dominate every aspect of public life. Even the review pages of the newspapers sometimes look like a highfalutin version of gossip magazines. Were we to judge them by the maxim “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”, they would not emerge well. Biography dominates. Ideas often seem to come last. Brilliant writers such as Sylvia Plath are better known for their lives than their work. Turning her into the Princess Diana of literature does neither her nor her readers any favours.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environment">Steven Pinker: ‘The way to deal with pollution is not to rail against consumption’</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/plastic-british-diver-films-sea-rubbish-bali-indonesia">'Plastic, plastic, plastic': British diver films sea of rubbish off Bali</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/07/environmental-calamity-facts-steven-pinker">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerEnvironmentCarbon footprintsPollutionUK newsScienceEndangered speciesEndangered habitatsWed, 07 Mar 2018 07:00:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/07/environmental-calamity-facts-steven-pinkerPhotograph: AlamyPhotograph: AlamyGeorge Monbiot2018-03-07T07:00:33ZStop blaming ‘both sides’ for America’s climate failures | Dana Nuccitellihttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/mar/05/stop-blaming-both-sides-for-americas-climate-failures
<p>The fault lies entirely with the GOP. Focus on fixing it, not laying blame where it doesn’t belong</p><p>Steven Pinker is a cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author of <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Enlightenment-Now">Bill Gates’ two favorite books</a>. However, his latest – Enlightenment Now – has some serious shortcomings centering on Pinker’s misperceptions about climate change polarization. Pinker falls into the trap of ‘<a href="https://extranewsfeed.com/the-end-of-both-siderism-why-we-need-to-confront-the-consequences-of-anti-democratic-political-17b64c5f5a89">Both Siderism</a>,’ acknowledging the Republican Party’s science denial, but also wrongly blaming liberals for the policy stalemate, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/53271830">telling Ezra Klein</a>:</p><p><em>there is implacable opposition to nuclear energy in much of the environmental movement ... There are organizations like Greenpeace and NRDC who are just dead set opposed to nuclear. There are also people on the left like Naomi Klein who are dead set against carbon pricing because it doesn’t punish the polluters enough ... the people that you identify who believe in a) carbon pricing and b) expansion of nuclear power, I suspect they’re a tiny minority of the people concerned with climate … What we need are polling data on how many people really would support carbon pricing and an expansion of nuclear and other low carbon energy sources.</em></p><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I tracked down this study. It wasn’t easy since Kristof’s column doesn’t link to it. Or provide the title. Or name any of the authors. Or say when it was published. The study can be found here, and its main results are in the screencap below. <a href="https://t.co/NcEYCFK04c">https://t.co/NcEYCFK04c</a> <a href="https://t.co/NJTbWLB4nZ">pic.twitter.com/NJTbWLB4nZ</a></p><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's how it works--the "liberal" New York Times has 3 right-wing columnists who each write 2 columns a week; the right wing Wall Street Journal has no liberal columnists. "Liberal" PBS just created a new show for conservatives, no liberals ever appear on right-wing Fox.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/mar/05/stop-blaming-both-sides-for-americas-climate-failures">Continue reading...</a>Climate changeClimate change scepticismEnvironmentCarbon taxEnergyRenewable energyNuclear powerParis climate agreementCOP 21: UN climate change conference | ParisGreenhouse gas emissionsGlobal climate talksSteven PinkerClimate changeScienceFox NewsBreitbartMediaTelevision industryUS television industryRush LimbaughMon, 05 Mar 2018 11:00:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/mar/05/stop-blaming-both-sides-for-americas-climate-failuresPhotograph: Fox NewsPhotograph: Fox NewsDana Nuccitelli2018-03-05T11:00:14ZCross Section: Steven Pinker – Science Weekly podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2018/mar/02/cross-section-steven-pinker-science-weekly-podcast
<p>We ask Prof Steven Pinker whether today’s doom and gloom headlines are a sign we’re worse off than in centuries gone by, or if human wellbeing is at an all-time high</p><p><strong>Subscribe and review on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/science-weekly/id136697669?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/guardianscienceweekly">Soundcloud</a>, <a href="https://audioboom.com/channel/guardian-science">Audioboom</a>, <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/guardianscience/">Mixcloud</a> and <a href="https://www.acast.com/guardian-science">Acast</a>, and join the discussion on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuardianPodcasts/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/guardianaudio">Twitter</a></strong></p><p>Cognitive psychologist and linguist <a href="https://stevenpinker.com/">Prof Steven Pinker</a> of Harvard University is no stranger to intellectual controversy. Since 1994, a series of bestselling books, including <a href="https://www.guardianbookshop.com/language-instinct-343558.html">The Language Instinct</a>, <a href="https://www.guardianbookshop.com/blank-slate.html">The Blank Slate</a> and <a href="https://www.guardianbookshop.com/better-angels-of-our-nature.html">The Better Angels of Our Nature</a>, have unleashed a torrent of criticism. Pinker’s determination to apply scientific thinking to politics, society and culture has left some accusing him of scientism – an overweening faith in the power of science in every sphere. His latest book, <a href="https://stevenpinker.com/publications/enlightenment-now-case-reason-science-humanism-and-progress">Enlightenment Now</a>, is a vigorous defence of Enlightenment progress against the prophets of doom.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2018/mar/02/cross-section-steven-pinker-science-weekly-podcast">Continue reading...</a>SciencePsychologyScience and scepticismHistory of scienceSteven PinkerFri, 02 Mar 2018 16:59:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2018/mar/02/cross-section-steven-pinker-science-weekly-podcastPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPresented by Richard Lea and produced by Sandra Ferrari2018-03-02T16:59:23ZSteven Pinker recommends books to make you an optimisthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/26/further-reading-steven-pinker-books-to-make-you-an-optimist
<p>There’s hope for the environment, human progress is dazzling – and the world, according to PG Wodehouse, is beautiful</p><p>The big prizes go to books on war, terror, cancer and extinction, feeding our morbid curiosity about the gruesome ways in which things can go wrong. But there is an underappreciated genre of books that recount the facts of progress. These improvements are not as photogenic as the bursting bombs and oil-soaked birds, and any author who presents the bright side, no matter how data-driven, is likely to be mocked as a Pollyanna or Pangloss. But rational optimism has inspired graceful, witty narratives, and passionate defences of the Enlightenment ideal that knowledge and sympathy can improve the human condition. For every plague, horseman and reaper, there are several sparkling books on how we are subduing them.</p><p>For every plague, horseman, and reaper, there are several sparkling books on how we are subduing them</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2015/sep/24/meet-the-ecomodernists-ignorant-of-history-and-paradoxically-old-fashioned">Meet the ecomodernists: ignorant of history and paradoxically old-fashioned</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/26/further-reading-steven-pinker-books-to-make-you-an-optimist">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureSteven PinkerScienceMon, 26 Feb 2018 06:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/26/further-reading-steven-pinker-books-to-make-you-an-optimistPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSteven Pinker2018-02-26T06:00:08ZInequality makes poverty even worse | Lettershttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/18/letters-inequality-poverty-steven-pinker
Steven Pinker dismisses our unequal society too easily – the poorest are being left further behind than ever before<p>Steven Pinker certainly provides much food for thought (“<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environment" title="">Enlighten me</a>…”, the New Review).</p><p>He is right to emphasise “the extraordinary progress that humankind has made in the past couple of hundred years”. And one may – reluctantly – agree that in some respects “humankind was becoming progressively less violent”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/18/letters-inequality-poverty-steven-pinker">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerChris GraylingPoliticsEducationUK newsSun, 18 Feb 2018 00:02:29 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/18/letters-inequality-poverty-steven-pinkerPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesGuardian Staff2018-02-18T00:02:29ZEnlightenment Now by Steven Pinker review – life is getting betterhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/14/enlightenment-now-steven-pinker-review
<p>Now is the best time to be alive claims this triumphalist defence of scientific rationality – if it matters, we’ll solve it<br><br></p><p>How do you write a manifesto for something that is already established? This might sound like a problem that confronts conservatives, but over the past 20 years or so it has become more of a riddle for progressives. One response is provided by the movement known as “new atheism”, which successfully assembled a band of science-loving devotees, but too often seemed to end up in a cul-de-sac of stale machismo and Islamophobia.</p><p>More pertinently, the failed 2016 campaigns of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/hillary-clinton-election-president-loss">Hillary Clinton</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/05/how-remain-failed-inside-story-doomed-campaign">Remain</a> demonstrated that, in the eyes of many people, “progress” simply meant more of the same. When people feel trapped and patronised by progress, then any alternative – even regress – will feel like freedom. Informing them that the policies of the past 40 years are <em>still</em> the best available starts to sound hopeless.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/nov/19/better-angels-nature-steven-pinker-review">The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker – review | Tim Radford</a> </p><p>Every horror of the past 200 years is put down to ignorance, irrationality or 'counter-enlightenment' trends</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/14/enlightenment-now-steven-pinker-review">Continue reading...</a>SocietyBooksSteven PinkerCultureWed, 14 Feb 2018 07:30:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/14/enlightenment-now-steven-pinker-reviewPhotograph: GETTY IMAGESPhotograph: GETTY IMAGESWilliam Davies2018-02-14T07:30:12Z‘Reason is non-negotiable’: Steven Pinker on the Enlightenmenthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/11/reason-is-non-negotioable-steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-extract
In an extract from his new book Enlightenment Now, the Harvard psychologist extols the relevance of 18th-century thinking<br /><br /><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environment" title="">• Read an interview with Steven Pinker on Enlightenment Now here </a><p>What is enlightenment? In a 1784 essay with that question as its title, Immanuel Kant answered that it consists of “humankind’s emergence from its self-incurred immaturity”, its “lazy and cowardly” submission to the “dogmas and formulas” of religious or political authority. Enlightenment’s motto, he proclaimed, is: “Dare to understand!” and its foundational demand is freedom of thought and speech.</p><p>What is <em>the</em> Enlightenment? There is no official answer, because the era named by Kant’s essay was never demarcated by opening and closing ceremonies like the Olympics, nor are its tenets stipulated in an oath or creed. The Enlightenment is conventionally placed in the last two thirds of the 18th century, though it flowed out of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason in the 17th century and spilled into the heyday of classical liberalism of the first half of the 19th. Provoked by challenges to conventional wisdom from science and exploration, mindful of the bloodshed of recent wars of religion, and abetted by the easy movement of ideas and people, the thinkers of the Enlightenment sought a new understanding of the human condition. The era was a cornucopia of ideas, some of them contradictory, but four themes tie them together: reason, science, humanism and progress.</p><p>War was no longer thought of as a divine punishment to be endured and deplored</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/11/reason-is-non-negotioable-steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-extract">Continue reading...</a>Science and natureSteven PinkerBooksPsychologyEnvironmentScienceCultureSun, 11 Feb 2018 08:00:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/11/reason-is-non-negotioable-steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-extractPhotograph: Science History Images / Alamy S/Alamy Stock PhotoPhotograph: Science History Images / Alamy S/Alamy Stock PhotoSteven Pinker2018-02-11T08:00:22ZSteven Pinker: ‘The way to deal with pollution is not to rail against consumption’https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environment
<p>The feather-ruffling Harvard psychologist’s new book, a defence of Enlightenment values, may be his most controversial yet<br><br><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/11/reason-is-non-negotioable-steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-extract">• Read an extract from Enlightenment Now here</a></p><p>Say the word “enlightenment” and it tends to conjure images of a certain kind of new-age spiritual “self-improvement”: meditation, candles, chakra lines. Add the definite article and a capital letter and the Enlightenment becomes something quite different: dead white men in wigs.</p><p>For many people, particularly in the west, reaching a state of mindful nirvana probably seems more relevant to their wellbeing than the writings of, say, Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith. But according to <a href="https://www.guardianbookshop.com/enlightenment-now-549057.html" title=""><em>Enlightenment Now</em></a>, a new book by the celebrated Harvard cognitive psychologist <a href="https://stevenpinker.com/" title="">Steven Pinker</a>, this is precisely where we’re getting our priorities wrong.</p><p>What we do to combat poverty: that’s far more important than reducing inequality</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/23/on-my-radar-steven-pinker-psychologist-author">On my radar: Steven Pinker’s cultural highlights</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2015/sep/11/graphic-evidence-steven-pinkers-optimism-on-trial">Graphic evidence: Steven Pinker's optimism on trial</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environment">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerScience and natureBooksPsychologyEnvironmentPovertyInequalityScienceCultureSun, 11 Feb 2018 08:00:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/11/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now-interview-inequality-consumption-environmentPhotograph: Scott NoblesPhotograph: Scott NoblesAndrew Anthony2018-02-11T08:00:22ZStephen Collins on optimism – cartoonhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2017/aug/26/stephen-collins-on-optimism-cartoon
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2017/aug/26/stephen-collins-on-optimism-cartoon">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleSteven PinkerSat, 26 Aug 2017 05:00:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2017/aug/26/stephen-collins-on-optimism-cartoonIllustration: Stephen CollinsIllustration: Stephen CollinsStephen Collins2017-08-26T05:00:27ZIs the world really better than ever?https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/28/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-the-new-optimists
<p>The headlines have never been worse. But an increasingly influential group of thinkers insists that humankind has never had it so good – and only our pessimism is holding us back. By Oliver Burkeman</p><p>By the end of last year, anyone who had been paying even passing attention to the news headlines was highly likely to conclude that everything was terrible, and that the only attitude that made sense was one of profound pessimism – tempered, perhaps, by cynical humour, on the principle that if the world is going to hell in a handbasket, one may as well try to enjoy the ride. Naturally, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum">Brexit</a> and the election of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump</a> loomed largest for many. But you didn’t need to be a remainer or a critic of Trump’s to feel depressed by the carnage in Syria; by the deaths of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean; by North Korean missile tests, the spread of the zika virus, or terror attacks in Nice, Belgium, Florida, Pakistan and elsewhere – nor by the spectre of catastrophic climate change, lurking behind everything else. (And all that’s before even considering the string of deaths of beloved celebrities that seemed like a calculated attempt, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/20/what-a-2016-of-a-year-never-again">on 2016’s part</a>, to rub salt in the wound: in the space of a few months, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Carrie Fisher and George Michael, to name only a handful, were all gone.) And few of the headlines so far in 2017 – Grenfell tower, the Manchester and London attacks, Brexit chaos, and 24/7 Trump – provide any reason to take a sunnier view.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2017/aug/14/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-podcast">Is the world really better than ever? – podcast</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/11/news-isis-syria-headlines-violence-steven-pinker">Now for the good news: things really are getting better | Steven Pinker</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining">John Gray: Steven Pinker is wrong about violence and war</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/07/climate-change-denial-scepticism-cynicism-politics">How climate scepticism turned into something more dangerous</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/28/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-the-new-optimists">Continue reading...</a>PhilosophyWorld newsSocietyGlobal developmentSteven PinkerHealthPoliticsScienceUK newsPovertyFri, 28 Jul 2017 05:00:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/28/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-the-new-optimistsIllustration: PETE GAMLENIllustration: PETE GAMLENOliver Burkeman2017-07-28T05:00:17ZBest holiday reads 2016https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/10/best-holiday-reads-2016-summer-reading-writers-holiday-books-curtis-sittenfeld-geoff-dyer-lionel
<p>From gripping fiction to history, brilliant poetry to biography, our guest contributors offer their recommendations for the beach and elsewhere</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/09/writers-best-books-summer-2016"><strong>The Guardian’s summer books special</strong>: Julian Barnes, Sarah Churchwell, Kazuo Ishiguro and more pick their holiday reads</a></li></ul><p><strong>Novelist and screenwriter </strong></p><p>Pack a collection of fairytales from the region you’re visiting. They remind us how similar we all are.</p><p>Joanna Walsh’s Grow a Pair: 9½ Fairytales About Sex is surreal, bawdy and inventive – wickedly so…</p><p>Anthony Mortimer’s translation of The Flowers of Evil is marvellous. Poetry is perfect for la plage.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2016/jul/08/summer-reading-with-mark-lawson-and-lisa-mcinerney-books-podcast">Summer reading with Mark Lawson and Lisa McInerney –&nbsp;books podcast</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/10/best-holiday-reads-2016-summer-reading-writers-holiday-books-curtis-sittenfeld-geoff-dyer-lionel">Continue reading...</a>Summer readingFictionHistoryCrime fictionPoetryBiographyBooksDavid NichollsCurtis SittenfeldHelen DunmoreMark HaddonLionel ShriverBlake MorrisonMaggie GeeJohn LanchesterJoe DunthorneKirsty WarkLucy Hughes-HallettAM HomesAttica LockeMariella FrostrupHari KunzruAlexander McCall SmithJohn BanvilleJulie MyersonNaomi WolfChimamanda Ngozi AdichieSteven PinkerFrances HardingeJon RonsonAndrew MotionIan RankinCultureTravelSummer reading 2016Helen SimpsonSun, 10 Jul 2016 06:30:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/10/best-holiday-reads-2016-summer-reading-writers-holiday-books-curtis-sittenfeld-geoff-dyer-lionelIllustration: Oivind HovlandIllustration: Oivind HovlandThe Observer2016-07-10T06:30:14ZIf everything is getting better, why doesn’t it feel that way? | Matthew d’Anconahttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/28/politicians-optimistic-philosophy-hope
<p>The right sets great store by selling us optimism. But in this bleak climate what people really need is hope</p><p>As the last turkey leftovers are served up as sandwiches or madras, it has long been traditional to audit the year that is ending and to survey that which is about to begin. In recent times, the right has seized such calendrical opportunities to remind us that, contrary to the jeremiads we are routinely fed by the media, things are, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvMQWte5pik" title="">as the Beatles sang</a>, getting better all the time.</p><p>And not just the Beatles. As the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan wrote in <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2015/12/daniel-hannan-2.html" title="">a ConservativeHome post</a> on Christmas Eve: “Whether we measure literacy or longevity, infant mortality or sexual equality, the world in 2015 was a better place than in 2014; and the world in 2016 will be better still.” All Hannan asked of his readers was to follow his empirical tour d’horizon: globally, according to UN statistics, the number of people dying violently has fallen by 6% since 2000; there has been a drop of eight percentage points in the number of people suffering from malnutrition since 1990; satellite imagery suggests that green spaces have grown by 14% over the past three decades; and so on.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2015/sep/11/graphic-evidence-steven-pinkers-optimism-on-trial">Graphic evidence: Steven Pinker's optimism on trial</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/28/politicians-optimistic-philosophy-hope">Continue reading...</a>PoliticsUK newsSteven PinkerMon, 28 Dec 2015 07:00:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/28/politicians-optimistic-philosophy-hopePhotograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex FeaturesPhotograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex FeaturesMatthew d'Ancona2015-12-28T07:00:22ZSteven Pinker: 'Many of the alleged rules of writing are actually superstitions'https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/06/steven-pinker-alleged-rules-of-writing-superstitions
<p>Bad English has always been with us, but clarity and style are far more important than observing dusty usage diktats</p><p>People often ask me why I followed my 2011 book on the history of violence, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/nov/19/better-angels-nature-steven-pinker-review">The Better Angels of Our Nature</a>, with a writing style manual. I like to say that after having written 800 pages on torture, rape, world war, and genocide, it was time to take on some really controversial topics like fused participles, dangling modifiers, and the serial comma.<br></p><p>It’s not much of an exaggeration. After two decades of writing popular books and articles about language, I’ve learned that people have strong opinions on the quality of writing today, with almost everyone finding it deplorable. I’ve also come to realise that people are confused about what exactly they should deplore. Outrage at mispunctuation gets blended with complaints about bureaucratese and academese, which are conflated with disgust at politicians’ evasions, which in turn are merged with umbrage at an endless list of solecisms, blunders, and peeves.<br></p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/15/steven-pinker-10-grammar-rules-break">Steven Pinker: 10 'grammar rules' it's OK to break (sometimes)</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/06/steven-pinker-alleged-rules-of-writing-superstitions">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerLanguageScience and natureBooksCultureTue, 06 Oct 2015 10:06:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/06/steven-pinker-alleged-rules-of-writing-superstitionsPhotograph: ROGER@ROGERASKEWPHOTOGRAPHY./REXPhotograph: ROGER@ROGERASKEWPHOTOGRAPHY./REXSteven Pinker2015-10-06T10:06:32ZGraphic evidence: Steven Pinker's optimism on trialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2015/sep/11/graphic-evidence-steven-pinkers-optimism-on-trial
<p>Every year the eminent psychology professor updates the 100 graphs that appeared in his 2011 book The Better ­Angels of Our Nature, showing that every form of violence is in decline. Here are his latest findings.<br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2015/sep/11/graphic-evidence-steven-pinkers-optimism-on-trial">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerFri, 11 Sep 2015 08:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2015/sep/11/graphic-evidence-steven-pinkers-optimism-on-trialPhotograph: Martin Argles for the GuardianPhotograph: Martin Argles for the GuardianGuardian Staff2015-09-11T08:00:03ZOn my radar: Steven Pinker’s cultural highlightshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/23/on-my-radar-steven-pinker-psychologist-author
The psychologist and popular science author on data graphics, spectacular planet photography and the ambitious comedy of Amy Schumer<p>Steven Pinker is a Canadian experimental psychologist renowned for his work in the fields of cognitive science and linguistics. He is a professor at Harvard and a prolific author, with bestsellers on how the mind works (the title of one of his two Pulitzer-nominated books) and the science of language. In his controversial 2011 work, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/22/better-angels-steven-pinker-review"><em>The Better Angels of Our Nature</em></a>, he argues that violence in human societies is on the wane. Pinker regularly crops up on lists of top global thinkers. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/15/sense-of-style-review-steven-pinker-linguistics"><em>The Sense of Style</em></a>, in which he offers guidelines for achieving clarity in non-fiction writing. <strong>Killian Fox</strong></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/23/on-my-radar-steven-pinker-psychologist-author">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerCultureSciencePsychologyAmyFilmPhysicsSpaceSun, 23 Aug 2015 07:30:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/23/on-my-radar-steven-pinker-psychologist-authorPhotograph: Suki Dhanda/ObserverSteven Pinker: 'To what extent should we hold people resonsible for their self-destructive choices?' Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the ObserverPhotograph: Suki Dhanda/ObserverSteven Pinker: 'To what extent should we hold people resonsible for their self-destructive choices?' Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the ObserverSteven Pinker/the Observer2015-08-23T07:30:15ZJohn Gray: Steven Pinker is wrong about violence and warhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining
<p>A new orthodoxy, led by Pinker, holds that war and violence in the developed world are declining. The stats are misleading, argues Gray – and the idea of moral progress is wishful thinking and plain wrong<br></p><p>For an influential group of advanced thinkers, violence is a type of backwardness. In the most modern parts of the world, these thinkers tell us, war has practically disappeared. The world’s great powers are neither internally divided nor inclined to go to war with one another, and with the spread of democracy, the increase of wealth and the diffusion of enlightened values these states preside over an era of improvement the like of which has never been known. For those who lived through it, the last century may have seemed peculiarly violent, but that, it&nbsp;is argued, is mere subjective experience and not much more than anecdote. Scientifically assessed, the number of those killed in violent conflicts was steadily dropping. The numbers are still falling, and there is reason to think they will fall further. A shift is under way, not strictly inevitable but enormously powerful. After millennia of slaughter, humankind is entering the Long Peace.</p><p>This has proved to be a popular message. The Harvard psychologist and linguist <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/steven-pinker" title="">Steven Pinker</a>’s <a href="http://bookshop.theguardian.com/better-angels-of-our-nature.html" title=""><em>The Better Angels of Our Nature: a history of violence and humanity</em></a> (2011) has&nbsp;not only been an international bestseller – more than a&nbsp;thousand pages long and containing a formidable array of graphs and statistics, the book has established something akin to a contemporary orthodoxy. It is now not uncommon to find it stated, as though it were a matter of fact, that human beings are becoming less violent and more altruistic. Ranging freely from human pre-history to the present day, Pinker presents his case with voluminous erudition. Part of his argument consists in showing that the past was more violent than we tend to imagine. Tribal peoples that have been praised by anthropologists for their peaceful ways, such as the Kalahari !Kung and the Arctic Inuit, in fact have rates of death by violence not unlike those of contemporary Detroit; while the risk of violent death in Europe is a fraction of what&nbsp;it was five centuries ago. Not only have violent deaths declined in number. Barbaric practices such as human sacrifice and execution by torture have been abolished, while cruelty towards women, children and animals is, Pinker claims, in steady decline. This “civilising process” – a term Pinker borrows from the sociologist Norbert Elias – has come about largely as a result of the increasing power of the state, which in the most advanced countries has secured a near-monopoly of force. Other causes of the decline in violence include the invention of printing, the empowerment of women, enhanced powers of reasoning and expanding capacities for empathy in modern populations, and the growing influence of Enlightenment ideals.</p><p>There is no reason for thinking human beings are becoming any more altruistic or more peaceful</p><p>There is something repellently absurd in the notion that war is a vice of ‘backward’ peoples</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-declining">Continue reading...</a>SocietyBooksCultureSteven PinkerScienceSocietyFri, 13 Mar 2015 14:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/13/john-gray-steven-pinker-wrong-violence-war-decliningPhotograph: National Gallery, LondonPhotograph: National Gallery, LondonJohn Gray2015-03-13T14:00:03ZDawkins among atheists urging Irish PM to hold blasphemy law referendumhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/dawkins-among-atheists-urging-irish-pm-to-hold-blasphemy-law-referendum
<p>Letter from scientists, writers, comedians and politicians criticises Enda Kenny for reneging on promise of referendum on six-year-old legislation</p><p>An international group of atheists and secularists including the scientists Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker has challenged the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, to hold a referendum to repeal Ireland’s 21st century blasphemy law.</p><p>Ahead of an historic first meeting between a taoiseach and Irish atheists in Dublin on Tuesday, the group told Kenny that it was his “duty to protect a strong position on behalf of those intimidated in Ireland and, more importantly, on behalf of those facing execution by nations who cite Irish blasphemy laws in justification and mitigation of their behaviour.”<br></p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/atheist-irelands-open-letter-to-enda-kenny">Atheist Ireland's open letter to Enda Kenny</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/dawkins-among-atheists-urging-irish-pm-to-hold-blasphemy-law-referendum">Continue reading...</a>IrelandAtheismLawEnda KennyRichard DawkinsSteven PinkerPakistanReligionCharlie Hebdo attackHuman rightsEuropeTue, 10 Feb 2015 17:32:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/dawkins-among-atheists-urging-irish-pm-to-hold-blasphemy-law-referendumPhotograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/GettyPhotograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/GettyHenry McDonald in Dublin2015-02-10T17:32:11ZSteven Pinker: ‘Twitter can hone your skills as a writer’https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/09/steven-pinker-twitter-can-hone-writing-skills
The linguist and author on social media, publishing his genome and sex with a robot<p><strong> Are you a gadget fiend?</strong></p><p>Yes, absolutely. I inherited it from my father. They can be beautiful, interesting and make life easier. But I don’t have everything. They have to do something for me in my life and their advantages have to outweigh the disadvantages.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/09/steven-pinker-twitter-can-hone-writing-skills">Continue reading...</a>Steven PinkerTechnologyScienceGoogle GlassGoogleTwitterInternetSun, 09 Nov 2014 07:59:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/09/steven-pinker-twitter-can-hone-writing-skillsPhotograph: Roger Askew PhotographyStephen Pinker, the linguist, cognitive scientist and author, at the Oxford Union in February.
Photograph: Roger Askew PhotographyPhotograph: Roger Askew PhotographyStephen Pinker, the linguist, cognitive scientist and author, at the Oxford Union in February.
Photograph: Roger Askew PhotographyZoë Corbyn2014-11-09T07:59:01ZRebecca Newberger Goldstein: ‘Science is our best answer, but it takes a philosophical argument to prove that’https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/19/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-interview-science-philosophy-plato-googleplex
<p>Scientists and philosophers have long been at one another’s throats over life’s big questions. Now a novelist with a foot in each camp wants to get Plato involved</p><p>For some time now the discipline of philosophy has been under something of an assault from the world of science. Four years ago Stephen Hawking announced that philosophy was “dead”. He was referring specifically to the philosophy of science, which he said was still bogged down in epistemological questions from which science had moved on.</p><p>But philosophy in general has increasingly been viewed as irrelevant by many scientists. It’s a perspective that may be best summed up by the cosmologist <a href="http://krauss.faculty.asu.edu/" title="">Lawrence M Krauss</a>, who has said: “science progresses and philosophy doesn’t”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/19/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-interview-science-philosophy-plato-googleplex">Continue reading...</a>PhilosophyPlatoScienceBooksSteven PinkerStephen HawkingSun, 19 Oct 2014 07:30:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/19/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-interview-science-philosophy-plato-googleplexPhotograph: Katherine Rose/Observer New Review‘I take science extremely seriously’ … Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Photograph by Katherine Rose for the Observer New Review Photograph: Katherine Rose/Observer New ReviewPhotograph: Katherine Rose/Observer New Review‘I take science extremely seriously’ … Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Photograph by Katherine Rose for the Observer New Review Photograph: Katherine Rose/Observer New ReviewAndrew Anthony2014-10-19T07:30:08ZThe Sense of Style review – lessons in how to writehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/03/the-sense-of-style-the-thinking-persons-guide-to-writing-in-the-21st-century-steven-pinker-review
What makes some prose compelling and some soggy? And do split infinitives matter? Steven Pinker has written a new and jaunty style guide<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/15/steven-pinker-10-grammar-rules-break">Steven Pinker on grammar rules it's OK to break</a><p>If you want to start an argument online, make an assertion about English usage. "Apostrophes are on their way out", or&nbsp;"People who misuse apostrophes deserve to be guillotined". For extra spice, add a dash of what's commonly considered solecism: "People who fret about apostrophes are, like, literally the worst thing in the world."</p><p>This gambit, of course, also works beyond cyberspace. On the page, and in conversation, we frequently observe that one person's idea of linguistic rectitude is another's of insufferable fussiness. Most of us have strong views about how best to use language; where the more intricate details are concerned, those views are often an amalgam of aesthetic taste, ingrained social prejudice, popular myth and a form of reasoning that we insist is logic though it may smell like something else.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/03/the-sense-of-style-the-thinking-persons-guide-to-writing-in-the-21st-century-steven-pinker-review">Continue reading...</a>Science and natureSteven PinkerWritten languageReference and languagesBooksCultureLanguageScienceWed, 03 Sep 2014 06:29:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/03/the-sense-of-style-the-thinking-persons-guide-to-writing-in-the-21st-century-steven-pinker-reviewPhotograph: David Hartley/RexA witty and personable guide … Steven Pinker. Photograph: David Hartley/RexPhotograph: David Hartley/RexA witty and personable guide … Steven Pinker. Photograph: David Hartley/RexHenry Hitchings2014-09-03T06:29:00Z